The Adventures of the Deep Water Prayer Tent begin

So this week Deep Water embarks on a new adventure as we will be launching our prayer tent. The basic concept is that we’re setting up a tent in Parade square where we can interact with the bar crowd and where people can come if they need prayer. This is a new and exciting adventure in the life of our Church family. I will be there for part of this week and will setting it up and tearing it down on Saturday, August 8th. As we get closer to launching this tent that has been almost a year in the making, I have to admit my excitment is mixed with nervousness. I think the reality has set in that I don’t know if I have any of the talents to do this well. In fact, this type of ministry has a lot of potential to exploit my weaknesses. Let me explain why I have these feelings.
First off, I’m a non-confrontational guy. In fact I avoid confrontation when at all possible, even to the point of being cowardly at times. When it comes to talking about Christ, people can be very confrontational. Drunk people can be ESPECIALLY confrontational. I’m kind of wondering how I will react to this.
I am also a people pleaser. I feel the need to try and make sure I don’t offend anyone, even if they are offending me. I’m sure some people will be farely passive about this, but I’m sure there will be some people will be offended and will have no problem denouncing Christians(which I can handle), me(not so good at handling), and possibly God(definetly not good at handling).
Lastly, when it comes to dealing with the first two points, irregardless of how I’m treated by others I still have to treat them with love and patience.
So with this criteria in mind, I have only one reason to think I’m qualified to minister at this prayer tent: the fact that I’m Un-Qualified.
You see historically God doesn’t use people based on how qualified they are to do His will. When God lead the Israelites out of Egypt, He didn’t use some great warrior. He used a stuttering old man who had fled the country years earlier. When the Israelites needed a victory against the Philistines, God used David over his brothers, even though he was just a boy and his brothers were grown men. When Christ needed someone to look after His Church after He returned to Heaven, He chose a cowardly Fisherman named Peter, who had a big mouth and often bit off more than he could chew. You see the reason God uses people who are unqualified is so we can truly see who He is and how much He loves us. He uses guys like Moses, David, and Peter to show us that we don’t have to be perfect for Him to use us, we just have to be willing.
We are going to uncharted waters with the DW prayer tent(no pun intended with the nautical reference). Am I sure what will happen or what to say to people? No. But I take comfort in Matt 10:19-20 “When they arrest you don’t worry about how to respond or what to say. For God will give you the right words at the right time. For it is not you who will be speaking -it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” Ultimately, that’s what it’s all about. It’s about people being re-united with a God who loves them and giving Him the Glory.

Summer of Love ‘09 (I love Canada)

That’s right, I thought no time better than Canada day to express my love for our Great Nation. I love Canada. I love being Canadian. I love talking to people who aren’t from Canada about how great Canada is.
I love our awesome flag. I love our awesome anthem. I love the fact that there is a prayer in our anthem, (that’s right, everytime we sing the anthem we ask God to keep our nation glorious and free)unlike our neighbours to the south.
I love the 72 Summit Series. I love the 92 and 93 World Series. I love Donovan Bailey winning the 1996 Olympic 100m dash. I love Lennox Lewis because he is actually Canadian. I love the Washington Nationals, Colorado Avalanche, and the Phoenix Coyotes, because they will always be the Montreal Expos, Quebec Nordiques and the Winnipeg Jets to me.
I love Neil Young. I love Rush. I love Kids in the Hall. I love talking to Americans with Rick Mercer. I love John Candy, Bob and Doug Mackenzie, Dan Ackroyd, Lorne Micheals, Mike Myers, Phil Hartman, Norm Macdonald, and Jim Carrey because they make me laugh my butt off.
I love the fact that we’re not a military nation, but when our military is called in to action, no one can mess with us. I love the fact that we won the war of 1812. I love our non violent tactics when it came to getting more land from the Americans. Our surveyors got American surveyors drunk so that we could push the Canadian border down as far Woodstock, basically negating the land taken during the Fennian invasion.
I love Michel Jean. I love Stephen Lewis. I love Tommy Douglas. It’s so great ot know these people are Canadian.
On this Canada Day, Oh Canada, I stand on guard for thee.

Summer of Love ‘09

So I figured this summer I would go through some of the stuff I love when I seem to have writers block on anything I find profound. So here goes.

Week One-I love running
I love running. I know some people think it’s boring or pointless, but I find relaxing and fun. This love of running started when I was 9 and will probably end when I’m 99, or when Jesus takes me home, which ever comes first.
I got to experience so many things because of running. Most of my travelling came from competing with various teams, so I’ve been blessed with so much from running.
Although I don’t compete anymore, I still use running to stay in shape. I tried hitting weights. I’ve tried just working out, but running is the only thing I enjoy doing for any long period of time.
I love the fact that my girlfriend loves running. It’s great to have that time with her. It helps us both stay in shape and we usually end up having some awesome conversations.
Finally, I love the feeling of nostalgia I get from running. It seems like so often when I go on a run I end up just reflecting on past experiences and just enjoying some time deep in thought. I find this especially happens in the fall. I get brought back to the ole SMU X-country days, or to the days of missing a day of school to compete at a X-country meet.
Here’s to another great summer of running.

Hey, It’s Patrick and he just got eternal life insurance. Good for you son!!

It was the summer of 1996. I was working my first job at Petro Canada, when a gentleman came in while his wife pumped their gas. We started chatting and after a bit of an awkward pause, he asked “If you died tommorrow do you know where you’d be going?” Not knowing where he was going with this, I boldly said “I’d be going to Heaven because I’ve placed my faith in Jesus Christ!”. It turns out this guy was a Christian, which wasn’t too surprising. I figured he was either a Christian, a Jehovah’s witness or a Mormon. We end up hitting it off and he ended up stopping by a few more times to chat.
While I really admire this gentleman and I enjoyed the conversations we had, his initial question got me thinking, as Christians have we reduced our relationship with Jesus to a simple “eternal life insurance policy”?
While I admit I’m not the most bold on the Evangelism front, I find that so often when we’re talking to people about Jesus, we simply focus on what will happen in eternity. Don’t get me wrong, people should be scared of hell and scared of permanent separation from God, but isn’t a relationship with Jesus so much more than a “ticket to Heaven”?
First, when we focus solely on eternity we miss the point that Jesus is working in this world as we speak and has been for over 2000 years. The Kingdom of Heaven isn’t some far off place or event that will happen years down the road.It’s happening right now, and as followers of Christ, He is calling for us to bring it to fruition. When we only have eternity in mind, so often we just hunker down and wait for Jesus instead of going out to spread the Good News and make Disciples (as He commanded us to do).
Secondly, Jesus not only saves us from the eternal consequences of sin, but the present consequences as well. So often we are only focused on hell and forget there are real, present consequences of sin which include pain to ourselves and others, broken relationships, and loss of hope. When Jesus told us He came to give us “Life Abundantly”, He wasn’t just talking about eternal life. He has saved us from the present damages of sin. He affirms us.He teaches us to love deeper. He challenges us in ways we have never been challenged. Yet so often we neglect to tell people what God has done in our life in the past and what He is continuing to do in us.
Third, to often when we only focus on the eternal, we make our relationship with Christ about what we gain from following Christ instead of what can we give to a God who has already made the ultimate sacrifice for us. Although, we gain so much from our relationship with Christ, ultimately, it’s all about Him. We are misleading people when we present the Gospel as a “consumer relationship” for our own personal gain.
Finally, there is far more to be said by what we do, than what we actually say. Saint Francis of Assissi once said “Spread the Gospel everywhere. And when you have to, use words”. Too often when we take the “eternal life insurance policy” method of Evangelism, we come across as being judgemental, or that we are trying to scare people into loving Jesus. The actions of our heart speak far louder than our words. We need to love people,acknowledge that it’s Christ within us and trust the Holy Spirit to reveal Himself to people through that love.

If you Love me won’t you let me know

I was walking through the mall one day when I was approached by a young lady. I wasn’t in a store so I found it odd as she approached. “Hey, I’d just like to invite you to a Church service this Sunday” she said with a big smile on her face. “Oh thanks” I replied, “but I actually go to a Church in Cole Harbour”. “Oh” she said as she walked away. Although I was impressed with her boldness, I couldn’t help but feel a little bit judged at that moment. Or maybe not judged but I felt a sense of dissapproval, like she felt the Church I went to didn’t measure up to the standards of the Church she went to. While she was far more bold than I am, I maybe questioned the sincerity of her gesture. This got me thinking, do we always have the right motive when we are spreading the Gospel?
As Christ followers we are commanded to make Disciples(Matt 28:19), and if we truly love Christ and believe He is who He said He is, we will want to see people come to relationship with Him. Are we investing time and emotional effort into pursuing people for Christ? Do we feel genuine compassion for people who are separated from God? Or are we just “convert crazy” and spreading the Gospel the same way indie bands hand out flyers so they can get people to come to their gig?
I think of things like handing out tracts. For anyone who is unfamiliar with this term these are the pamphlets that ask “If you died tommorrow where would you be?”. Although I believe the people handing these out are sincere, I think tracts are, for the most part ineffective, impersonal, and quite frankly, “lazy evangelism”. Studies done by the Barna Group, a Christian research company, found that of the people who became Christ followers later in their life(read, didn’t grow up in Church) only 0.1% said they were swayed by a tract. And of the people who said they rejected Christianity, 100% mentioned that they were turned off by tracts. I also think that tracts tend to make people feel like they’re judged with the first conversation you have with them. We think we’re saying “Jesus loves you”, it is perceived as us saying “we think we’re better than you, and you’re going to hell”. Not exactly the greatest first impression.
I also find as Christians we have a tendency to become friends with people simply because we want to “convert them”. We’re bold in introducing ourselves when we think someone might be interested in coming to Church with us or coming out to our Bible study, but when they tell us it’s not their thing or that they find Church weird, we stop hanging out with them. I think of an example in the book UnChristian. A man had just moved to New York city, where he had no friends. Until one day, he got talking to a man on the subway. They hung out a few times and became friends. One day the man from the Subway asked the guy who had just moved to New York if he wanted to go to a Bible Study. The man said it wasn’t really his thing, but thanks anyway. He never heard from Subway guy after that.
Let’s get one things straight, we aren’t supposed to want to see people come to Christ so we can start loving them. We should love them, and part of that love is wanting to see them come to a relationship with Jesus. This means investing in people, especially emotionally, in spite of whether they are interested in Christ or not. And yes sometimes we won’t see them come to a relationship with Christ, and sometimes they will reject us because we are Christian, but that’s the cost of love.
Ultimately, the most effective “evangelism tool” is this:Love. No where was this more evident than the testimonies I heard at Deep Water’s Baptism service a little over a month ago. I didn’t hear one person say they were there because a random stranger handed them a $1,000,000 bill asking them if they knew where they were going after they died. And I didn’t hear one person say that they were there because someone had made a deal with them that they would be there friend if they came to a Bible study with them. No, the recurring theme was that someone was befriended by someone else, they came out to some event with a bunch of people who welcomed them and were friends with them, even if the person didn’t believe in Jesus, and God worked through those people to show how much He loved them.
I visited Mosaic Church in Los Angeles about a year ago. I remember someone asked a question to Erwin McManus, the Pastor at the Church “My father is dying of cancer. This has made him bitter towards God and the Gospel. What should I do?” Erwin’s response was one of the most profound and beautiful things I’ve ever heard. All he said was “Love him”. And that’s what it ultimately comes down to, loving people, in a genuine manner. And if we don’t genuinely love people, we need to pray that God will give us the heart for people that He has for them.

We’re telling people that as Christ followers we love everyone. People are asking “If you love me won’t you let me know?”

So Why am I here?

Well, it has been my first official month as a person in their thirties and I’ll admit, I’m having a bit of an age crisis.This isn’t exactly how I pictured my life at age 30. Like most people I always figured I’d follow in the foot steps of my dad, at age 25 have a career , get married, have a house and a couple of kids , and by thirty be cruising right through to retirement. Let me summarize where I’m at:
I have a marketing degree from SMU that I have yet to reap the benefits from. I wouldn’t say I have a career, in fact many days I feel like I’m still trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up. As a result of the previous point I’m staying at my parents house because I have to choose between living at home and saving or living on my own and struggling from cheque to cheque. I’m not married although I do have a great girl in Monique, so that’s the one area I feel confident about. With all this in mind the million dollar question for the past month has been: so why am I here?

You see when I first graduated University 7 years ago, my plans were to, (as George Bailey put it so eliquently in It’s a Wonderful Life) “shake of the shackles of this dusty ole town and see the world”. While I love this town, I have to admit sometimes it wears on me. It seems so often like if you want to be young and successful there is no place for you in Nova Scotia. So why haven’t I up and left? Have I simply embodied that false stereotype of a “culture of defeat” (that wasn’t a shot at Harper) that is associated so often with people from the Maritimes? I mean, all my friends whose lives weren’t on track seem to have up and left for Alberta, Ontario or Asia. So why am I here?
Last year, I got to go on a trip to California. While the trip was awesome it was hard to come back to little ole Halifax with our limited night life, lack of pro sports teams, and brutal weather. It left me for a longing to live it up in LA or San Fran. So what’s stopping me from trying to live there? I mean it wasn’t like I was tied down with a well paying job. Monique and I had just started dating at that point. So why am I hear?
Unfortunately, I was seasonally laid off this winter, not exactly what I expected when I first took my current job. I mean only working 2/3 of the year in an industry that relies on good weather(in NS) doesn’t exactly seem all that stable. Maybe this would be the time to see about moving to Alberta or Ontario, or start looking elsewhere for a job? I mean Monique’s in the picture now, but she has a degree in IT so I’m sure if we decided to move that she could find a good job where ever I find work? So why am I still here?
This is the question I’ve racked over and over in my head for the past month. It’s frustrated me and made me question a lot of the decisions I’ve made in life, especially with regards to my career. SO WHY AM I STILL HERE?
And yesterday I got the reminder of why I’m still here. For God’s mission in the city of Halifax. You see two years ago, during a real crossroads in my spiritual journey, God put a clear calling on my heart to be at Deep Water Church. There weren’t too many things that seemed clear in my life at that point, but God’s calling me to Deep Water was one of the few things that was. I’ve had a few opportunities to leave the city over the past 2 years, but I knew that Christ’s calling came before my own ambitions. I couldn’t always see the big picture, but I knew, with Christ’s strength I had to press on.
Two Sunday’s ago, everything came to a head when Deep Water had it’s first baptism service. In all 10 people were baptized. The testimonies ranged from people who had never really connected with Church or Jesus until they came to Deep Water to people who had followed Jesus their whole lives but hadn’t really “gotten serious” about their faith until they started attending Deep Water.
After reading AJ’s blog today and hearing so many encouraging testimonies, from people telling us our Church was “sick”(in a good way) to people thanking AJ for starting this church, my question was answered:This is why I’m here.
Yes, I’m still 30 and there are some uncertain things in my life. But one thing I know is that until Christ calls me somewhere else or takes me Home, I will serve His mission in Halifax. Because His plans are far bigger than a house, and career, and cruising through to retirement

www.deepwaterchurch.com

I finally feel like I have something important to say!! Well, we’ll see

Well, I finally caved in and start blogging after reading AJ’s and Bryan’s blogs for so long. However my blogs will be more light hearted than theirs because, quite frankly, I’m not that deep. I’m about as deep as a kiddy pool. So I will chose to blog on things such as sports, general observations I have, and once and awhile something serious or sappy. Anyway, to all of you who read this, I hope you enjoy it.

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